Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The span of history of U. S. Presidents who have served in wars since 1812 [1] nearly parallels that of the biblical grand Day of Atonement. It was a veteran of the War of 1812 who discovered in the Bible that the 2300 year prophecy of Daniel 8:14 was due to begin fulfillment in 1844. “Atonement” means reconciliation, and this final era of judgment is the call to the world to “fear God, and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come” (Rev. 14:6, 7).
This final prophetic period has witnessed the unanticipated rise of the thirteen colonies of England to the leadership of the world (the second nation with “two horns like a lamb” of Rev. 13:11). This nation has made possible a world missionary movement. But before it could lead, it had to throw off the moral curse of slavery; hence the horribly severe Civil War which Lincoln recognized as a divine punishment.
Thoughtful people have recognized also that it could not have been God’s primary will that the unspeakably terrible disasters of World Wars I and II should subject humanity to such nearly universal agony. To accomplish God’s blessed work of final atonement did not require such human agony to be endured by millions.
God has expressed in the Bible a formula how such disasters need not be necessary to His blessed work of the Day of Atonement: let God’s church proclaim to the world the “sealing message” that prepares a people to stand before the throne of God “without fault,” and be ready to meet the Son of God personally when He comes the second time (see Rev. 14:1-6; 14, 15; and 7:1-4). God loves the whole world, and His church must learn to cooperate with Him and reveal His character to the world.
--Robert J. Wieland
[1] From an article published in U. S. News and World Report.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 24, 2006.
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